Regardless of your personal politics, or your personal thoughts on the man, there can be no argument that Donald Trump has been very successful in using twitter as a means to communicate with his following.

But why? What makes his efforts and his style, work on this medium?

I recently read an article by Aaron Lee posted on Social Quant that provides a unique perspective on some of the reasons for Trump’s success, and provides insight into how you can adapt these tactics to your own twitter activity.

I have created a summary of the relevant points Lee made in his article here (and perhaps in the process, we can get something positive out of this Presidency!):

1. Longevity – Trump has proven that he is in the game for the long run. He has been tweeting for years (in fact since 2009), not just when it became useful or beneficial to him. In the process he has made over 30,000 tweets and he has experience in the process.

2. Regularity – Lee is not making an age joke! Trump tweeted (up until he became president) every single day – sometimes multiple times a day. It was never a choice for him to take days off – he was committed to making the vehicle work for him.

3. Tagging people – Trump regularly tags people in his tweets. This allows the followers (his and the individuals tagged) to take up the cause. By association, he directs his followers on whether to support or attack an individual.

4. Use of images – Trump is a master in the use of images on twitter. He uses unique/effective images that draw on people’s emotions and he always seeks to share images in his posts.

5. Social Engagement – Trump engages with people on twitter – in both positive and negative ways. And he always tags those people when he engages. In this way, he uses twitter to help him build a community of people that like him and think the same way.

6. Videos – In addition to images, Trump also regularly shares relevant videos in his tweets. which increases interest and engagement.

7. Connection – Twitter is personal to him. His tweets are written the way he thinks, they are not filtered or manipulated (they represent his stream of consciousness) – which to his followers makes him genuine (or “authentic” as Ivanka was quoted as saying).

8. Direct comments – Trump’s tweets primarily come from a phone device, and not a tool like TweetDeck, further adding to the impression that he is being genuine and composing his own messages.